2009/04/13

Our Beloved Voice of the Phillies Passes away at 73

In a shocking moment today, Harry Kalas died at the age of 73. He collapsed in the broadcast booth preparing for today's game versus the Nationals and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Team president Dave Montgomery said today, "we have lost our voice." This is an extremely sad moment for all sports fans across the nation. Kalas has been the voice of the Phils since 1971, and also served as a voiceover for NFL Films since 1975. His distinct "Outta Here!" call has been said by all of us playing in the parks growing up dreaming of the big leagues. In 2002, Kalas received the honor of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding contributions to the game of baseball. He did call our only two World Series championships. His last "Outta Here!" home run call was the game winning Matt Stairs home run last night versus the Rockies. He will be extremely missed and can never be replaced. We as a city have been very lucky to have an announcer of his caliber for so many years, and we are happy he was able to call last year's championship. Watching the Phils or listening to them on the radio will never be the same. R.I.P. Harry Kalas

4 comments:

Mr. Green
said...

His final call, I will remember, because I was just at my parents for Easter, eating dinner, watching the golf. But in the other room, the Phillies game was on the tv, and I could hear something good happened as I started to hear Harry Kalas call the home run for Matt Stairs.

It is hard to accept that we'll never hear a live call of "That ball is outta here!" ever again. We have truly lost an icon, not only for Philly sports but for sports in general. In Harry, Philly gave the country a genuine treasure and giant in the field of broadcasting. Very sad, and he will be missed tremendously. But perhaps we can take some solace knowing that he can now join his dear friend and ex-colleague, Whitey Ashburn, in that broadcast booth in the sky. I can almost hear the two of them now:Whitey: "The Angel Gabriel looks runnerish, Harry..."HK: "And that thunderbolt is outta here!!"RIP, Harry, and hopefully the Fightin's will dedicate this season to you.